Pines and Plains Libraries

Following 9/11, a small band of Special Forces soldiers secretly entered Afghanistan and rode to war on horseback against the Taliban. Outnumbered forty to one, they pursued the enemy across the mountainous terrain and captured the strategic city of Mazari-Sharif. The bone-weary Americans were welcomed as liberators, and overjoyed Afghans thronged the streets. Then the action took an unexpected turn: the Horse Soldiers were ambushed.

"The young adult adaptation of the epic memoir of an Alaskan pararescue jumper, Special Forces Operator, and decorated war hero. "That Others May Live" is a mantra that defines the fearless men of Alaska's 212th Pararescue Unit, the PJs, one of the most elite military forces on the planet. Whether they are rescuing citizens injured and freezing in the Alaskan wilderness or saving wounded Rangers and SEALS in blazing firefights at war, the PJs are...

"For nearly a decade Brett Velicovich was at the center of America's new warfare: using unmanned aerial vehicles--drones--to take down the world's deadliest terrorists across the globe. One of an elite handful in the entire military with the authority to select targets and issue death orders, he worked in concert with the full human and technological network of American intelligence--assets, analysts, spies, informants--and the military's elite operatives,...

U.S. Air Force Combat Controllers are tasked with providing ground-based air traffic control for aircraft landing, air-to-ground assault and combat air control. Some of the most highly trained special operations personnel in all of the U.S. military, they provide a combination of commando tactical capabilities and aircraft command and control to deliver deadly air attacks across a wide range of needs and serving as "force multipliers".

Shares the author's experiences as a Marine in Afghanistan from 2002-2003.

T"he riveting story of how a young boy's upbringing with outlaw culture and charismatic role models forged him into an elite Marine and a decorated Pararescueman. "Absence of self is my sword" comprises the final line in "The Warrior's Creed," a 14th century poem written by an unknown Japanese Samurai, and this is the code Master Sergeant Roger Sparks embodied as a Recon Marine turned Alaskan Pararescueman. A living legend in the military, Sparks...